Flipping trial: Rotolo clams up under cross-examination

As attorneys representing the three remaining defendants in the case plunged ahead with their cross-examination, Lisa Rotolo gradually shut down.

By MICHAEL BRAGA

When Lisa Rotolo began testifying in one of the largest flipping fraud cases in Florida history Monday afternoon, she seemed wide open emotionally and intellectually.

The former title agent broke into tears several times that first day, and confessed in a heartfelt way that she had committed serious crimes and had thought of turning herself in to the authorities.

But as attorneys representing the three remaining defendants in the case plunged ahead with their cross-examination, Rotolo gradually shut down. By mid-afternoon Thursday, the only response she seemed able to muster to any question was: "I don't recall."

"You don't recall the first time you did a fraudulent deal?" Anne Borghetti, an attorney representing defendant Joel Streinz, asked sarcastically.

"You don't recall the first time you were talked to by the authorities? You don't recall the conversation you had with Craig Adams on May 22, 2008?

Borghetti then asked the court to play a tape recording of a conversation Adams had with her while wearing a wire for the FBI nearly four years ago.

Through the audio, the courtroom was transported to a time when Adams and his co-conspirators were panicking because the region's housing market — on which they had built their illicit fortunes — was collapsing, and they were facing multiple foreclosures.

At the same time, the Herald-Tribune had begun writing about some of the fraudulent deals and law enforcement officials were investigating after one of Adams' victims — David Oriente — claimed $470,000 had been stolen from him.

"We offered him money," Adams said on the tape, in reference to Oriente. "I mean we offered him his money back. I got a closing — 654 Mourning Dove closed with Wex (Steve Wexler) — and I got some money out of that and offered it to him. Moved it to Jeff's escrow account, the whole bit, and said, you know we have a large sum of money available for you if you would ..."

By that time, Adams had turned himself in to the FBI and was gathering evidence that has resulted in 19 indictments and 16 guilty pleas.

A defiant response

Throughout the 40- minute recording, Rotolo bent over a 53-page transcript of the conversation. But when it was over, she emerged defiant toward Borghetti's cross-examination.

"I was committing fraud and I didn't want to go to the authorities — I didn't want to say anything until it came out," Rotolo answered angrily, in response to a question about why she had stonewalled Sarasota Police Det. Jack Carter. "I was ashamed and humiliated. So I was playing dumb."

The Rotolo on the tape appeared to be very different from the one in the courtroom.

Four years ago, she sounded composed and animated. She also seemed determined to resist police interrogation and advised others to do the same.

She boasted that Detective Carter "can't put two and two together," and that she was being as "tight-lipped" as possible with mutual friends — once again playing dumb and asking them for information.

Rotolo told Adams she had recently talked to Robyn Waugh, a Sarasota mortgage broker who handled at least 10 mortgage deals for Adams, Rich Bobka and their associates.

"I mean she'a nervous about it, but you know, I told her — I said, until something happens just ... stay the course and do business and go forward," Rotolo said.

She also advised Sherri Krams, who had served as Adams' business manager for 12 years, to take out any money left in home equity credit lines before banks put stops on borrowing.

"I told her to pull the money out," Rotolo said.

For most of the rest of the conversation, Rotolo and Adams talked about other alleged members of the conspiracy.

They said Scott Schuhriemen, who provided 19 home equity mortgages to the group, had been fired by BB&T because the loans had "blown up." They commented that Scott Abel, who did several deals with Adams and his associates, was struggling financially, and that Wexler, who also did deals with Adams, was "freaking out."

"He is because his name is in the paper," Adams said.

"Because, see, Steve has always traveled in the circles of the highfalutin."

Adams explained that a complex deal between Wexler and businessman Marvin Kaplan had been chronicled earlier that week in the Herald-Tribune.

"You and (Scott) Dunlap did that one where Marvin Kaplan bought a house from Wexler," Adams said. "Jacked the price up $500,000. Got a second mortgage at the same time, didn't report it to Chevy Chase, which did the first. You know, separate closing statements."

They talked about how Rich Bobka and his brother and sister-in-law were facing 20 foreclosures and noted that Bobka "was running his mouth," saying he would buy everybody's house back.

They talked about how bank loan officers like Craig Whitehead were bound to face a backlash.

"I mean the banks have got to look at some point and say, 'Look at all these losses with one loan officer,' " Adams said. "That concerns me."

Though Adams and Rotolo discuss many names on the recording, only 19 indictments have resulted. Many of those named have never been charged with any crime.

Adams and Rotolo also joked about how few people read closing documents, which was contrary to Rotolo's earlier testimony that she always walked borrowers through every page of their closing documents.

"How many readers have you had in all your closings?" Adams asked.

"Not many," Rotolo answered. "Two."

"I've had two," Adams said. "I've had two in 2000."

When the tape stopped playing and Borghetti's cross- examination was interrupted by the government's request for a conference with the judge, Rotolo did not look at the jury.

She stood, head bowed, while the attorneys discussed how to proceed.

When they finished, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich dismissed the jury, and the court was left in limbo as to whether Rotolo would return to the stand Monday.

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